Methods and systems of monitoring child welfare and juvenile justice services

Abstract

A method and system of collecting, evaluating, and sharing information about the status of at least one child under the auspices of a child welfare agency, a juvenile justice agency or another responsible agency that comprises: enabling various individuals to asynchronously submit structured and unstructured information about a child through a multi-channel, password-protected interface; storing information about the identity, characteristics, and status of a plurality of children in a database memory or registry; automatically evaluating and prioritizing information about a status of a child according to predefined rules; providing a password-protected interface through the Internet to the memory for a child welfare worker, juvenile justice worker, other responsible agency worker, or collateral personnel; providing detailed and summary information about an individual child among the plurality of children, and about aggregate groupings of children through the password-protected interface; and facilitating the sharing of information and the communication about a status of at least one child among child welfare workers, juvenile justice workers, other responsible agency workers, and collateral personnel.

1 . A method of collecting, evaluating and sharing information about a plurality of children, comprising: 
 providing an interface to enter information relating to one of the plurality of children;    storing entered information in a database on a server;    processing the entered information to determine an issue relating to the one of the plurality of children; and    notifying one or more social services departments of the issue.    
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the interface is provided by phone, by wireless, and by the internet.  
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising notifying a parent or guardian of the one of the plurality of children about the issue.  
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising a first of the plurality of social services departments to communicate with one or more of the plurality of social services departments about the issue.  
     
     
         5 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , comprising generating a report summarized the status of the plurality of children.  
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the report identifies which of the plurality of children have a priority issue.  
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the report is graphically presented.  
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein the report is transmitted to a case manager.  
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the report is transmitted to the one or more social services departments.  
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the report is transmitted to the juvenile justice department.  
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the social services departments include Family Court, Dependency Court, Child Protective Services, Child Welfare Agencies, and Foster Care Agencies.  
     
     
         12 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the interface provides a questionnaire about the status of one of the plurality of children.  
     
     
         13 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the interface is provided to the one or more social services departments.  
     
     
         14 . The method as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein the interface is provided via the internet.  
     
     
         15 . The method as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the interface is also provided via a wireless connection.  
     
     
         16 . A system for collecting, evaluating and sharing information about a plurality of children, comprising: 
 a server and a database, the server being connected to the network;    a plurality of client terminals connected to the network;    a first software application through which information relating to one of the plurality of children can be entered through one or more of the plurality of client terminals into the database;    a second software application that processes the information to determine an issue relating to the one of the plurality of children.    
     
     
         17 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the second software application transmits a message describing the issue to one or more of the plurality of client terminals.  
     
     
         18 . The system as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of client terminals are located in a plurality of social service departments.  
     
     
         19 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of client terminals are located in a plurality of social service departments.  
     
     
         20 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the interface is provided by phone, by wireless, and by the internet.  
     
     
         21 . The system as claimed in  claim 17 , comprising notifying a parent or guardian of the one of the plurality of children about the issue.  
     
     
         22 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , comprising means for generating a report summarized the status of the plurality of children.  
     
     
         23 . The system as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the report identifies which of the plurality of children have a priority issue.  
     
     
         24 . The system as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the report is graphically presented.  
     
     
         25 . The system as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the report is transmitted to a case manager.  
     
     
         26 . The system as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the report is transmitted to the one or more social services departments.  
     
     
         27 . The system as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the report is transmitted to the juvenile justice department.  
     
     
         28 . The system as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein the social services departments include Family Court, Dependency Court, Child Protective Services, Child Welfare Agencies, and Foster Care Agencies.  
     
     
         29 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the first software application provides a questionnaire about the status of one of the plurality of children.  
     
     
         30 . The system as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the network is the internet.  
     
     
         31 . The system as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein one of the plurality of client terminals is a wireless device.